Career Nursing Assistant Week: The R.N. Who Created Nursing Assistant Certification

Certified Nursing Aides, or C.N.A.’s, perform the hands-on care for seniors in nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living communities and home care. But the term “C.N.A’. did not always exist. Genevieve Gipson, a Registered Nurse who worked in long-term care in Ohio, was one of the founders of the C.N.A. Network and the cheerleader for what became national legislation for the training and certification of nursing assistants.  

“I never intended to start an organization,” says Ms. Gipson. “When I first started working in nursing homes the people working as nursing assistants were called “the help”.  Patient information was not communicated to them consistently.”  

Ms. Gipson pulled together a team of nurses and nursing assistants to begin the discussion about the job duties and the training needed for this position in long-term care more than 35 years ago. Career Nurse Assistant’s Week takes place from June 13 - 20th this year, as 2013 marks the 36th Annual National Nursing Assistant’s Week. Ms. Gipson helped organize a group to identify the job description of nursing assistants and organize formal training.  Eventually the group received a grant to assist them with the project and opened an office at Akron University, creating what was to become federal legislation for training programs for Certified Nursing Aides in each state in the U.S.A.  

“Supervisors didn’t have a clue about what all of the care the nursing assistant’s provided,” says Ms. Gipson.  And while many in the industry discussed the challenges of high turnover, Gipson and her team discovered that there were actually many nursing assistants with more than 20 years of service providing professional care.   The first year Ms. Gipson and her team organized a career day they had 20 to 30 people show up.  The next year they had more than 200 attendees and by the 3rd year many other states were also celebrating a day for the newly labeled “Certified Nursing Assistants” Career Day.

Now the “National Career Nursing Assistant’s Day” takes place on June 13th along with additional recognition throughout National Nursing Assistant’s Week from June 13 - 20th.  

Caregiverlist, as a pioneer in custom hiring platforms for Certified Nursing Assistants, supports the initiatives of the group Ms. Gipson founded, the C.N.A. Network.  As nursing assistants truly are the heart of care, we are grateful for the efforts of Ms. Gipson to establish formal training and an initiative of support for nursing assistant’s needs.

As more nursing aides are needed to care for America’s growing number of seniors, anyone with a caring personality may consider working as a C.N.A. Review C.N.A. schools in your area and take a practice C.N.A. exam to learn more about the skills required.  You may also begin your career by first applying for a part-time or full-time caregiver job in your area as a companion caregiver. Or, refer-a-friend to a caregiving job position to be entered to win weekly and monthly prizes.